Castle Klengwyr

Hex 13.15. At the peak of the Trollridge mountain range, Castle Klengwyr looms over the land like a dark cloud. Home to a mysterious king called Klengwyr, it is said that centuries ago a Hamarung warlord built the castle to hold dominion over the southern Mucklands. Now, Klengwyr's influence spreads ever outward among the outlying tiny towns and villages.

what's going on

• The threat of the sarpathi has made people needy for a leader, someone to guide them during these uncertain times. Klengwyr the VAMPIRE seized the opportunity to become such a figurehead, and swayed the malleable folks, extending his dominion further than ever before.
• The people look to Klengwyr for protection from the

KING KLENGWYR

A VAMPIRE (L6-C) lord beloved by the surrounding villagers on either side of his mountain for his hospitality and patronage. He appears to be an open book, and will aid those in need. But Klengwyr hides a vile secret. He is using the people's trust to kidnap villagers and feed upon them while blaming it on the sarpathi.

• Traits: Hospitable, overly gregarious, creepy gleam in his eye.
• Motivation: Feed in secrecy and spread his influence among the local villagers.

GHARN THE TROLL

A TROLL (L5-B) of few words fiercely loyal to Klengwyr. He protects the castle, the folk, and serves his vampire master in everything. Gharn, however, is not all that he seems, but is actually Klengwyr's familiar. With an enslaved mind, Gharn helps his master kidnap locals to feed his master's thirst.

• Traits: Spacey, curt, menacing stare.
• Motivation: Serve Klengwyr as a mind-controlled familiar. sarpathi kidnappings, but Klengwyr is just using this as an opportunity to kidnap folk to sate his thirst.
• Klengwyr surrounds himself with a cult-like following of TROLLS, DWEORGS, and humans.

rumors

• King Klengwyr is the most benevolent ruler of Trollridge, and he alone will guide folk to salvation and safety from the sarpathi menace.
• King Klengwyr wears a stylish black fez that he never removes.
• There are strange sound in the castle at night, but the King insists there is nothing to worry about.
• Locals warn that SARPATHI REAVERS are kidnapping villagers around Trollridge but there have been few actual sightings.

THE GHOST

For years, locals have said Klengwyr Castle is haunted. Indeed, it is home to a vampire, but the real haunting is in the ancient dungeon, where a ghost wails at night, angered from being awakened. The GHOST, whose name it cannot recall, was sleeping peacefully until, “A pointy-toothed ninny woke up the phantasms and me along with them!” They haunt the halls, complaining.

• Traits: Aristocratic, perpetually bothered, smells like death.
• Motivation: Would like nothing more than to get back to their eternal sleep.

HANKLE GROBBERDEE

A human groundskeeper who has worked at the castle for the last few months. He doesn't have a bad thing to say about the vampire, but he has noticed some pretty strange things lately that give him the willies.

• Traits: Hard worker, just minding his own business, a little creeped out.
• Motivation: Good work is hard to find and he'll work hard for good work.

quests

SNAKES IN THE CANYON

Klengwyr explains how the sarpathi menace has caused so much trouble for his people. He provides protection for the nearby mountain villages, but the sarpathi are relentless. Klengwyr suggests embarking on a scouting mission south of the castle. There is a narrow, remote canyon where the sarpathi have been spotted. Help root out the sarpathi in the area and Klengwyr will pay 1 pouch of Ancient Coins.

• Sheer, rocky cliffs make the canyon nearly impossible to climb, meaning PCs must venture south through the canyon floor.
• A group of hooded BANDITS (presumably sarpathi) attack with arrows from the high cliffs. They are Klengwyr's SKELETON (L5-G) servants in disguise. If they defeat the PCs, they bind them with rope, and at midnight, take them to the Castle Klengwyr Dungeon.

WHAT THE GROUNDSKEEPER SAW

Hankle Grobberdee approaches you with his concerns about recent events. He thinks there might be a GHOST below the castle, and he swears he saw Gharn, and two other gaunt looking men, drag several unconscious peasants into the castle at midnight. But when he brings either event up to Klengwyr, he utterly dismisses it.

• Gharn and the two SKELETON minions were bringing Klengwyr victims to feed upon.
• If the PCs investigate these happenings, and then try to speak to Hankle again, he's nowhere to be found. Everyone at the castle will say he took some days off to return to his home of Griefwood.
• In fact, Hankle has been killed by Klengwyr for witnessing too much. Hankle's family hasn't seen him since the last time he left.

layout

AREA 1: THE CASTLE GATES

Two burly guards, a TROLL (L3-B) and DWEORG (L2-B), stand before a black portcullis (closed during the day, open at night).

• The guards are gruff but grant audience with Klengwyr during evening hours. He is much too busy during the day.
• Several human and boggart peasants happily load supplies onto carts, and cordially bow to the PCs. They have nothing but wonderful things to say about King Klengwyr.

AREA 2: THE COURTYARD

Beautiful, well-kept castle grounds juxtaposed with stark, severe black castle architecture. Attendants cut wood, do laundry, and go about daily castle life.

• Hankle Grobberdee, the groundskeeper, nods to the PCs as he cleans up a huge, grisly bloodstain on the cobblestones.
• Hank isn't sure what caused the stain, probably butchering pigs for supper.
• Many of the attendants are smiling but their eyes seem vacant.
• GUARDS stand watch in the shadows, keeping out of the way of the hustle and bustle. Sneaking past the GUARDS can get the PCs access into Area 5.

AREA 3: THE THRONE ROOM

A grand chamber decorated with antique suits of armor and old tapestries depicting the castle's history. At the chamber's center sits a stone throne, the oldest artifact in the castle, believed to have been where the original Hamarung warlord sat to rule over Trollridge.

• Klengwyr rarely leaves the throne room and is attended to by human servants.
• There is a tapestry missing from the eastern wall, between two others. The first depicts the castle being defended from a torch light army in the dead of night. The second depicts Klengwyr addressing a crowd of folk from all over the region.
• An obviously locked door at the far left of the chamber leads to Area 4: The Dungeon.
• An open door at the far right leads to Area 5: The Keep.

AREA 4: THE DUNGEON

Winding stone steps lead into a completely dark, dank dungeon. Chains clink in the darkness, and a horrible wail pierces the air.

• A restless, irritable GHOST (L7-B) who is angry for being awakened from eternal rest, floats through the corridors.
• The GHOST wants nothing more than to be put back to rest, but that requires the spell that awoke it to be undone. Luckily, the ghost knows it was Klengwyr who cast the spell to raise SKELETON minions.
• Klengwyr wears a Magic fez called the Black Fez, which grants him necromantic powers to raise the dead as his servants.
• The Dungeon has a second wing locked behind a thick door. Anyone who lives in or around the castle believes that the wing contains dangerous criminals and SARPATHI REAVERS. In reality, the wing contains Klengwyr's kidnapped victims throughout the area.
• At night, Klengwyr's horde of SKELETON (L5-G) minions guard the Dungeon's hallways.

AREA 5: THE KEEP

A dark tower with spiraling stairs leading up to several chambers, mostly living quarters. All of the windows are boarded shut, and there is no torchlight.

• The Keep's chambers are where King Klengwyr and his most trusted servants reside when not in the Throne Room.
• At the top of the Keep is King Klengwyr's royal chamber, locked and guarded by a human servant standing in darkness.
• There is no bed inside the chamber. In fact, there isn't much of anything but a grand, ornate rug and what looks like a stone iron maiden adorned with a ghoulish face. This is Klengwyr's coffin-like place of rest, where he sleeps for most of the daylight hours.
• There is a Mythic Hoard (+1) hidden in a hatch beneath the rug.
• The other five chambers in the keep are rather nondescript quarters with beds and personal belongings, but each contains a Loot Pile (+2).